]]>Chuck Todd is moderator of “Meet the Press” on NBC, the longest-running program in U.S. television history, and hosts “MTP Daily” weekday nights on MSNBC. He is the political director at NBC News and serves as an on-air political analyst for “NBC Nightly News” and “Today.” Todd is responsible for all aspects of NBC News’ political coverage.Todd will be co-anchoring NBC’s “Decision Night in America” coverage of Election Night tomorrow, starting at 7 PM ET.

The Liberty Champion was contacted by NBC News’ public relations team offering an over-the-phone interview with Chuck Todd. This is a transcript of the phone interview between Champion News Editor Will Young and Todd that took place Thursday Nov. 3. The transcript has been edited for length and grammar.

In the past few weeks, we have seen some of the polls between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump close. Some polls have seen a virtual tie. How much fluctuation do you think will happen until Tuesday. Could we see Donald Trump ahead in some major polls right up to Tuesday?

I equate the last week of the campaign with the phrase “fog of war” in that it’s a tough week to poll, so I’m always very weary of a lot of the polling that I see in the last week, even from some good pollsters. In different ways people try to come up with likely voter models, and I’m very skeptical of focusing on just one.

Now, big picture. Clearly this race is tightening. I believe that we will never know, because of the Comey news, for sure whether this was happening on its own. There was evidence of tightening happening before Comey, but I don’t think we will ever be able to separate out whether this was Comey related or if it was just Republicans coming home when the history of this election is written.

If you back up further, you had your core Clinton supporters and your core Trump supporters. Then you had the people that were sitting in third party: maybe Gary Johnson or Jill Stein voters, and undecided voters. There were about one to five voters like that. I think that when you saw Hillary Clinton come up with a big lead after all of those attacks on Trump after the debates, she essentially picked up all of those voters that were leaning on Clinton but weren’t completely there yet. The rest of the folks there were Republican-leaning voters that just weren’t big Trump fans.

The question has always been, “Are they coming? Are they going to get there in time for Trump? Will they just not vote?” Those were some of the concerns among Republicans that I talked to two weeks ago. Well they started to come, and you could see that there was closing happening before Comey. I think Comey accelerated it, but we will never know for sure whether it is completely Comey. I’m a little cautious about saying it’s all because of that reason.

I think we were going to see this tighten either way. I still think she has a durable lead, but it’s certainly smaller right now, that’s for sure.

At Liberty University, most students describe themselves as young evangelicals. What kind of impact do you think the evangelical vote will make in this race compared to past races?

If Trump comes up short, I believe it will be because of voters who care about social issues, who care about morality. Whether it’s evangelicals or Mormons if you look out west, there’s definitely a lack of enthusiasm there.

I am very curious of how evangelical women will vote, particularly in some states like Florida or Virginia and in North Carolina because they are battleground states anyway. I don’t know if they will vote for Clinton or sit out and skip the presidential election. I have to say that post-election, I think the political side of the evangelical movement is going to be interesting to see as a political observer.

I think there is going to be this back-and-forth of “What is the future of the political side of the evangelical movement?” Especially if Clinton wins, you can look at the issues that the Supreme Court will decide and where society is moving towards on certain issues such as marriage.

After the election, I think the leaders of the evangelical movement will have a lot of questions to answer for. Did they rally around Trump too quickly? I just think there’s going to be a lot of debate internally, and I think there’s going to be some fracturing there among the leadership.

If Trump loses, different parts of the conservative movement are going to have these sort of “time to look ourselves in the mirror” moments, and evangelical leaders will have that moment themselves.

There is a lot of discussion around the future of the Republican Party post-election. Depending on whether Trump wins or loses, what do you think the future of the GOP holds?

I think that the Republican Party has an identity crisis, but I also think the Democratic party has its own identity crisis. You can make an argument that in the last 40 years of American politics, the red-blue divide over this country has been over social issues. What your position was on various social issues defined you as a Republican or Democratic voter.

There’s a lot of evidence, particularly with younger conservatives, that some of these social issues that have been the most divisive over the past 40 years just aren’t in the forefront of the minds of especially younger evangelicals or younger conservatives.

I think, generationally, there is a split on that. For the younger generation, they are saying “Well, it’s settled.” That doesn’t mean they are necessarily happy about it, but it’s settled and the rest of the country has moved on. Well the question then becomes “What is going to define a Republican and what is going to define a Democrat?” I think that it’s going to be economic issues, and we’ve gotten a taste of it.

I believe there’s a chance that we look back at this election in 40 years and say that 2016 was the beginning of the reorganization of the two parties. And you will have one party that is maybe more internationalist and open to the global economy, and the other party that says, “Hey we have to slow down here.” I’m not saying that it’s full-fledged nationalism, but it’s more like “Hey, let’s tap the brakes here.” But the point is that your place on the economic ladder is what is going to push you toward one party or the other. It’s not going to be so much a social issue in the future.

In terms of that, do you think it is likely that social groups like the pro-life movement will give it up?

I don’t know if those groups will give it up, but I think there will be a sense that the battle is lost on a legal sense, and that they will question over whether or not there is a different way to tackle the abortion issue.

Perhaps the movement will try to find out a different way to focus that energy. I don’t want to leave you with the impression that these debates are going away in the next couple of years — they’re not — but look at Donald Trump’s candidacy. This was not a candidacy that was based on social issues at all.

While the platform still read as a socially conservative platform, that isn’t what the RNC convention showcased. There was more of a message that it is time to embrace gay America, and I even think they were featuring some pro-choice speakers at that convention as well.

The point is that Trump was not penalized inside these Republican primaries for his lack of conviction on these issues. I think that everyone in the movement knows that Trump just came to these social issues out of a necessity, and that tells you everything. It wasn’t at the forefront of his mind, and yet he was able to grab this nomination rather easily. I think the energy in American politics, both on the left and the right, is going to be economically based.

You also said recently that Virginia will be a good indicator of how close Trump will be to Clinton in other states on election day. What’s your reasoning behind that?

I was asked, “What early state would tell us whether or not Trump was having a good night, and I said that if we couldn’t call Virginia pretty quickly, then that would be a good sign. Even if Clinton carries Virginia, but it’s extraordinarily close, then that will tell me that African-American turnout was down in Virginia, and it could be down all over. It would tell me that Republican voters are a little more motivated than the polls have indicated, and it would also tell me that a lot of evangelicals are showing up to the polls.

Virginia has a couple of interesting microcosms with the African-American vote and the evangelical vote that will give us a sign of just how other states will go as well. Right now, all the evidence points to Clinton carrying Virginia. The faster or slower that we call Virginia will tell us how well Trump will do in the rest of the states.

When hearing the word “deplorable,” one thing comes to mind — the 2016 presidential election.

It is now September 2016, and the circus continues. On Sept. 9, 2016 in New York, Hillary Clinton was very vocal about her opponent Donald Trump and the 44 percent (according to fivethirtyeight.com) that have chosen to support him.

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.

Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it,” Clinton said at the LGBT for Hillary Gala.

Of course, what Clinton said is ridiculous, much like everything else that has come from this year’s election season. There are no more surprises.

To assume that all of Trump’s supporters are bigots, racists, sexists and so forth is idiotic and hypocritical.

Photo credit: Google Images

Especially coming from a candidate who many are supporting because she is the “lesser of the two evils.”

It is as if Clinton has forgotten her own “deplorable” track record.

It is interesting that such comments would anger Trump supporters.

After all, he has become the candidate who “speaks his mind” and “says it like it is,” so Clinton’s words should not be too off the mark.

Have we suddenly become sensitive to offensive speech? Weird.

The supporters Clinton mentions must be those who had no problem with Trump’s own gross generalization that all Mexican immigrants are rapists or murderers.

Or maybe his sexist comments about female journalists? The man has given us a lot of options.
If Clinton were wise, she would keep the criticism where it belongs — toward her opponent and his policies (or lack thereof).

Back in 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney also made the mistake of calling out the “47 percent” of entitled Americans who were looking to the government for handouts, and it did not go over well.

In such a close election, it does not make much sense to insult those whose votes you need.

According to fivethirtyeight.com, Clinton’s lead has been on a downward spiral, and this gaffe certainly did not help her.

The American people, with all of their flaws and shortcomings, have a tough choice to make come November, and it is only getting more difficult.

Both candidates seem to have forgotten what this whole thing is all about — the people. T

he job of the president is to serve them all, doing all they can to improve the country.

But here we are.

Although Clinton’s remarks are not correct, they are consistent with the view of many Americans. This does not take away from the fact that, as someone who hopes to be the president of the U.S., it is not wise to generalize and judge her future constituents.

If Clinton gets what she is hoping for, she will serve that same deplorable basket of people.

]]>https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2016/09/we-the-deplorables/feed/0Afghanistan: a victory for the US, womenhttps://www.liberty.edu/champion/2014/04/afghanistan-a-victory-for-the-us-women/
https://www.liberty.edu/champion/2014/04/afghanistan-a-victory-for-the-us-women/#commentsTue, 15 Apr 2014 19:00:08 +0000http://www.liberty.edu/champion/?p=25374The recent presidential election in the Middle East may be …

]]>The recent presidential election in the Middle East may be a sign that the region is making increased progress

I saw the headlines, and it was as if I was reading a fantasy, something that could not be true—under any circumstances.

As I have Googled information about the Afghani election, I have been met with headlines calling the day at the polls a “victory,” “success,” “shock” and, the most surprising of all, “relatively peaceful.”

The presidential election, held April 5, was a grandiose display of patriotism. This second national vote displayed an unequivocal desire to see the nation’s seemingly innumerable woes resolved. Among all of the victories, the United States and Afghani women were big winners.

DEVELOPMENT — An Afghanistani voter shows his inked finger to show that he has voted. Google Images

The power and presence of the Taliban seem to have diminished, a topic many speculate for different reasons.

According to Michael Kugelman of the Huffington Post, it is because the Taliban is worried about its image and wants to have a better standing with the coming administration as a political entity.

Others have said it is because of the United States’ “War on Terror” that has weakened the power of the Taliban. In either case, this is a time of great opportunity for the West and for women.

America’s engagement in Afghanistan has produced great successes. According to the U.S. embassy in Kabul, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with the Afghan government, has built more than 680 schools since 2002, enrolling nearly 7 million students. Of those students, 37 percent of them are female. This stands in stark contrast to 2001 when the Taliban still ruled the nation, and less than one million students were in school—and not a single one of them was a girl.

For women, this was a major shift from the heavily patriarchal Afghanistan. In an era where the rules of the Taliban seem to be dwindling, three women threw their name in for vice president.

“Of course, to be in politics as a woman is a risky task,” Dr. Habiba Sarabi, first female governor in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province and vice presidential candidate, said in The Independent, a British news source. “But we have to take the risk, otherwise we cannot achieve our goal. We cannot expect everything can be soft or everything can be clear on our way.”

Ashraf Ghani, the frontrunner for president, has broken an age-old tradition by including his wife, Rula Ghani, in his campaign. Rula Ghani claims to be a Lebanese Christian and has been called the “most Westernized woman among the Kabuli elite,” by several Afghani news sources.

Educated in the United States, Ashraf Ghani is the former finance minister of Afghanistan and the former chancellor of Kabul University. He is known as a scholar of political science and anthropology, and he worked at World Bank on international development assistance.

Ashraf Ghani has agreed to sign President Barack Obama’s agreement to keep foreign troops in the country after their scheduled withdrawal date at the end of 2014. The United States’ continued presence is critical for the continued advancement of freedom.

Afghanistan’s women know that, and they took their civic duty seriously. According to the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan, 35 percent of the 16 million voters were women.

With the coming of a new regime, Afghanistan and the U.S.—along with the rest of the Western leaders—have the opportunity to forge strong relationships and continue moving into greater freedom.

The final results of the election are not expected for a couple weeks, and there are bound to be many bumps along the way. The Taliban is not gone, and radical Islam is still around. However, there has been great progress.

All in all, I am proud of our armed forces, hopeful for the Afghani people and optimistic that long-term efforts to build strong alliances in the Middle East will be launched in this great window of opportunity.

With Lynchburg City Council Elections approaching May 10, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell said he would like to encourage students to participate in the local political process.

“It only takes a small turnout to make a difference during these off-season elections, 3,000 votes is all it takes to swing the election one way or the other,” Falwell said.

During the 2008 presidential election, more than 4,000 students registered to vote and were responsible for a 70 percent voter turnout rate in Ward III, according to a 2008 Liberty Champion article. Because of this a precinct was opened on campus, Falwell explained.

“The only reason that we have a precinct on campus is because 4,000 students not only registered to vote but came out and voted,” Falwell said. “We used to have to bus them to the polls.”

According to Falwell, when students vote, they benefit from their effort in many ways.

“(When) we used to go to build something here, (city council required us) to get a conditional use permit, …” Falwell said.

“(The city) used it to put a lot of requirements on us by making us build highway ramps or tunnels. That was money we didn’t have back in those days, so it came out of tuition money and resulted in increased tuition for students. Now, because students registered to vote, we have the new institutional zoning rights. … And we only got those rights because students voted, and we could just as easily lose the rights again if our (students) stop voting.”

Voters can influence City Council’s actions on matters such as meal taxes, lodging taxes, entertainment taxes and real estate taxes, Falwell said. At present, meals tax is 6.5 percent in the state plus 5.3 percent going to the city for a total of 11.8 percent. Meals tax is an item that is often discussed as a means to add income to the city budget.

Another added benefit from students being more involved in the local political process is the Wards Road pedestrian bridge.

“In my opinion, the city paid for the bridge over Wards Road as a result of Liberty students registering to vote,” he said.

Falwell used this as an example to show how important it is for Liberty students to vote.

“If you vote, (City Council) pays attention to you, which is good for Liberty students,” he said. “It is just good citizenship. You are going to school here, and you are here nine months out of the year.”

The election day coincides with the last day of Liberty’s final exams, May 6. While many Liberty students will still be in town for exams or to participate in Commencement May 10, some students may have already left campus.

According to the Lynchburg Registrar’s Office page at lynchburgva.gov, students can vote in person for the City Council election as they normally would May 6. However, if students are planning to be out of town on the day of the election, they will not be left without recourse.

Students who are already registered can participate in absentee voting by visiting the Lynchburg Registrar’s Office and filling out an absentee ballot application before the April 29 deadline. Once the application is turned in, they will be mailed a ballot.

Falwell explained that this is Liberty’s last shot to vote for at large City Council seats for the next four years.

“I hope students will vote locally in support of their university and this city,” he said. “I would appreciate the favor as well because, when students get involved, it makes our job as university administrators a little easier.”

]]>Liberty University administrators voice opinions about the importance of student participation at the polls

As I observe the students around me, I notice little things that say a lot. One of these little things is the attitudes displayed in Convocation when President Jerry Falwell urges students to vote, or when a politician speaks at Convocation. And I am not talking about a warm, welcoming attitude. It is more like a sneering, critical attitude. It is something that sets my generation apart.

Unfortunately, my generation has grown tired of politics. We have been made promises of change and been told our problems would get better with little to no results. Do some simple addition: Politicians’ broken promises plus young people’s entitled attitude equals an uneasy relationship between the two.

What the majority of Liberty students fail to realize, however, is just how influential their votes can be in shaping major city decisions. Following the 2008 election when students were first permitted to vote on city issues, conditional use permits were no longer required for campus construction. Additionally, without pro-student representation on city council local food, entertainment and hotel taxes risk continued increase.

Most of Liberty’s major projects — such as the Walmart Bridge and the road improvements for the new vehicular tunnel — were constructed because of student votes and Liberty’s collaboration with Lynchburg City.

I do not blame my fellow students for their derisive attitude toward politics in general. But we must care about the city council elections for the implications that they have to us as students personally.

According to Charles Murphy, professor of Liberty University’s Helms School of Government, the problem is a problem of overall student apathy.

“I am certain that it is that students do not understand the importance of this, or any election,” Murphy said. “I think it is both a lack of information and a lack of concern.”

I agree with Murphy that there is certainly a lack of concern amongst the student body. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if students were as excited about being involved in the government as they were about Flappy Bird. Not even President Barack Obama would be able to handle, or promise, that much change.

So how can we effect change and get the student body to be concerned about elections, especially the upcoming Lynchburg City Council election? Associate Dean Ron Miller of the Helms School of Government has some ideas.

“I haven’t witnessed a lot of city council candidates on campus wooing the student vote, and that leaves the impression that they’re indifferent to them,” Miller said. “I think students would be more enthusiastic about local elections if there were candidate forums hosted on campus so they could hear from the candidates and ask them questions directly.”

I know many students feel less than ecstatic to take part in elections where they do not live, but most have lived or will be living here for four years, if not staying here after graduation.

“The university could use the various methods of communication at its disposal, like Convocation, to remind students to get out and vote and to tell them why it’s important to them,” Miller said. “Even though they’re here only temporarily, for most of them it will be a four-year tour, and that’s long enough for them to be invested in what happens here during that time.”

I believe that my generation is capable of some very great and wonderful things. I know we are. We have technology never thought possible, and it is advancing at a rate faster than ever before. We just need discipline, focus and a desire to effect change where it matters. Never mind Flappy Bird or Angry Birds or Angry Flapping Birds. We should be excited about what really matters. It starts by showing up at the polls.

]]>The upcoming gubernatorial race will hold significant consequences for the future of our state and our nation

E pluribus unum. The Latin phrase, inscribed into the Seal of the United States, is one of our nation’s first and greatest mottos. Translated into English, the expression reads “out of many, one.”

Out of many states emerge a single nation.

Speak out — Students should participate in the upcoming Virginia election. Photo credit: Abigail Bocke

Or so was the intent when an Act of Congress adopted the Seal of the United States in 1782. But instead of the majestic picture of a united people depicted on our seal and crest, we are instead finding a nation divided, overcome by petty partisanship.

News of the government shutdown has doubtless made headlines around the world. But how many of us realized just how personally the shutdown would affect our own lives?

I, for one, did not take notice until I was forced to reschedule my weekend plans to visit Washington, D.C., and when Peaks of Otter was no longer open for hiking.

Stop for a moment and take a look across our nation: Family and friends are on furlough. National parks are closed. Museums and memorials are barricaded, and government sites are shut down.

These are but small ripple effects of much larger complications. As students, do we understand the gravity of the core problems facing our country?

It is tempting to brush off the issue and give a quick quip about it not being our problem. But as students and future leaders preparing to enter the workforce, the government issues plaguing our country are very much our problem.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned amidst our nation’s executive crisis is that we do indeed have a voice, and we need to be aware of how we are using it.

If you voted in the last election, you are responsible for the placement of our current congressional members. And if you abstained from casting a vote, you too placed people into power by refusing to use the voice you have been given.

As students in Virginia, we have an upcoming opportunity to use our voices to say something meaningful. The gubernatorial election, taking place Nov. 5, is important not only for Virginia, but for the United States as a whole.

According to Dan Balz from The Washington Post, Virginia’s gubernatorial race has national stakes.

“For Republicans looking toward 2016, it is a real-time test of the challenges a full-throated conservative will face in the swing states that decide presidential elections,” Balz wrote. “There are good reasons to pay attention. In each of the past nine gubernatorial elections, Virginians chose a candidate who represented the party that did not hold the White House. If that pattern is broken this year, Republicans will be asking why.”

For those wondering how to make a difference and how to effect change — start with a vote. Register for the upcoming election and make decisions consciously and intentionally.

Who we elect and who takes office has powerful effects for the people of this nation.

“Today we are more like Babel than Pentecost, we are more about confusion than wisdom, more separate in and by rhetoric than united,” Farrell said. “We may disagree. But there can be no place for derision or smugness. When we respect differences of opinion in dialogue, we respect and revere the differences that provide variety and give texture to this great country of ours.”

Regardless of which party you side with, something must be done to safeguard our future from falling back into its current state of dissension. The government shutdown will not last forever. It will reach an end. When it does, I hope our generation remembers what has happened and makes the necessary steps toward changing the future.

Virgil Goode bids for presidency

Virgil Goode, a former six-term U.S. congressman from Virginia, has positioned himself as a true conservative, running as the Constitution Party candidate in the 2012 presidential race.

Goode was born in Richmond, Va. Oct. 17, 1946.

According to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, he graduated from Franklin County High School in Rocky Mount, Va., in 1965. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond in 1969.

Goode. Photo provided

Goode attended the University of Virginia School of Law immediately following his
undergraduate career and graduated in 1973, according to his website. Goode also gained military experience as a member of the Army National Guard from 1969 to 1975.

According to his website, Goode worked as a lawyer with his own private practice from 1973 to 1977 while also serving as a member of the Virginia state senate. He was unsuccessful in his candidacy for nomination as a United States senator in 1982 and 1994. However, he was elected as a Democrat to the 105th Congress and to the succeeding Congress.

According to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Goode changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Independent Jan. 27, 2000. He was elected to the 107th Congress as an Independent but again changed his party affiliation to Republican Aug. 1, 2002. As a Republican, Goode was elected to the 108th Congress and the two succeeding Congresses. All in all, Goode served in Congress from Jan. 3, 1997 to Jan. 3, 2009. He ran unsuccessfully for re-election to the 111th Congress in 2008.

Goode highlights three issues in his presidential campaign in a USA Today article. He defines marriage as a union of one man and one woman, and he claims to be the only candidate to establish a moratorium on green card admissions to the United States.

Finally, he limits campaign donations to $200 to make a point about what he sees as a problem with the involvement of Political Action Committees (PACs) and Super PACs in partisan politics.

According to his website, Goode qualified for the ballot in Virginia despite a petition-fraud investigation by the Republican state attorney general. He has qualified to appear on the ballot in 26 states but could appear on as many as 42 state’s ballots as a write-in. Prior to his presidential campaign, Goode had been out of politics since his unsuccessful campaign for re-election to Congress in 2009.

Goode and his wife, Lucy, have one daughter, Catherine, who is grown.

1. According to finaid.org, the current total student loan debt is at over $1 trillion. What is your plan to help students obtain the quality education they need in order to help them better compete in the job market?

Until the budget is balanced as outlined in the following question, new subsidized student loans will likely be halted or significantly reduced.

2. What will be your top three priorities for getting the economy moving?

Under the Obama administration, unemployment has soared to over eight percent. Our debt has increased by more than $4 trillion under the Obama presidency, which has also given us trillion-dollar deficits.

The United States cannot borrow its way to prosperity. It is incumbent on our next president to propose a balanced budget upon taking office and not 10 years down the road. There will be pain, but the old saying that one will not get out of the hole by digging the hole deeper is accurate.

Nearly every department and agency will face significant cuts and some will face elimination. Veterans’ benefits is an example that will not be cut.

Examples of programs to be eliminated include the National Endowment for the Arts, No Child Left Behind and Foreign Aid, etc.

Reducing regulations and becoming energy-independent will also mean more jobs for America. The Canada to Texas pipeline needs to be built and operational expeditiously and not delayed or stopped as the current administration is doing.

Another way to reduce unemployment, reduce the deficit, and provide more jobs for U.S. citizens is to reduce legal immigration. In recent years, about 1.2 million green cards have been issued annually, and more than 60 percent go to foreigners who come to the United States and take jobs from American citizens. I have proposed a moratorium, with a few minor exceptions, on issuing green cards until our unemployment rate is under five percent. America has one of the most liberal immigration policies in the world, and it is time for the citizens of this country to be at the head of the line for jobs. We also need to totally end diversity visas (50,000 per year), reduce chain migration and dramatically reduce asylees and refugees and their costs to the U.S. taxpayer.

3. Health care is an important issue for college students, especially given the Affordable Health Care plan that extends coverage for these students — even those who are married and attending a university. What other issues of the health care program will impact college students now and in the future?

I support the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Plan but would support requiring coverage of students on a parent’s policy until that student reaches age 26.

4. What focus would your administration give to social issues where public policies go against strict religious beliefs, such as abortions, marriage amendments and religious liberty?

I oppose abortion. National Right to Life commended me on my 100 percent voting record during my years in Congress. I favor and co-sponsored legislation and constitutional amendments to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. I fully support religious liberty and the right to pray and to assemble.

5. Many students have enlisted in a branch of the military in order to pay for college. With the recent defense cuts and force reduction, how are you planning on protecting student veterans, National Guard members and ROTC cadets?

Such programs can not be expanded until the budget is balanced.

6. Why should a college student vote for you?

I am the only candidate with the courage to make the cuts necessary to balance the budget now and to start reducing the debt so today’s students will not face calamity in future years.

Mitt Romney prepares to reform

Republican presidential nominee hopes for new job creation, tax breaks and reduced stress on the military

Republican presidential candidate and successful businessman Mitt Romney was born to humble beginnings in Detroit, March 12, 1947.

According to Gov. Romney’s website, his father, George Romney, apprenticed as a lath and plaster carpenter and sold aluminum paint before beginning a career that led him to become the head of American Motors and, eventually, the governor of Michigan. Mitt Romney learned from his father’s hard work.

Romney. Google

Romney married his wife, Ann, in 1969. The two were acquaintances in elementary school but met years later at a friend’s house and began a long-lasting relationship.

According to his website, Romney graduated from Brigham Young University in 1971 and went on to earn degrees from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School. He began working as a business consultant before he co-founded the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984. According to mittromneycentral.com, Bain Capital has helped to launch or rebuild more than 100 companies, including Staples, Bright Horizons and The Sports Authority.

With the Salt Lake City Olympics on the verge of collapse in 1999, Romney was asked to take over because of his exceptional business background. According to his website, the games had been involved in a bid-rigging scandal, sponsors were fleeing, and the budget was in the red. The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 created a security nightmare and had some officials questioning whether to even hold the Olympics in the United States.

Romney set out to straighten things out. According to his website, he revamped the organization’s leadership, trimmed the budget and restored public confidence. He also oversaw an unprecedented security mobilization to assure the safety of the athletes and the millions of visitors.

Romney was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, according to his website. The state was in disarray, its budget was out of balance, spending was soaring, and taxpayers were paying more in taxes for diminishing services. According to mittromenycentral.com, with the state economy in a tailspin and businesses closing or cutting back on investments, Romney brought state spending under control, restructuring and consolidating government programs. Facing a state legislature dominated by Democrats, Romney vetoed more than 800 bills in an attempt to bring conservative principles to the state government. He was able to eliminate a $3 billion deficit without borrowing or raising taxes.

According to his website, the financial discipline provided under Romney’s leadership was essential for an economic recovery in Massachusetts. During his term, which ended in 2007, the state unemployment rate fell from 5.6 to 4.7 percent, and Massachusetts gained tens of thousands of new jobs.

According to his website, Romney and his wife have five sons, all of whom are grown men. They also have 18 grandchildren.

1. According to finaid.org, the current total student loan debt is at over $1 trillion. What is your plan to help students obtain the quality education they need in order to help them compete better in the job market?

America’s traditional community and four-year colleges are the heart of our nation’s higher education system. However, a flood of federal dollars is driving up tuition and burdening too many young Americans with substantial debt and too few opportunities. Meanwhile, other models of advanced skills training are becoming ever more important to success in the American economy, and new educational institutions will be required to fill those roles. Mitt Romney’s proposed reforms will spur the access, affordability, innovation and transparency needed to address all of these challenges.

First, he would work to strengthen and simplify the financial aid system by consolidating duplicative and overly complex programs within the Department of Education, and he would focus the Department on giving students and families with financial need the appropriate information about completion and persistence, loan repayment rates, future earnings and other indicators. This will help families intelligently weigh the risks and benefits of the many options available to them, rather than limiting choices through punitive regulations. Second, he would welcome private-sector participation instead of pushing it away, and third, he would replace burdensome regulation with innovation and competition. This will encourage market entry by innovative new education models, emphasize skill attainment instead of time spent in the classroom, and support research and development. We must repeal confusing and unnecessary regulations that primarily serve to drive costs higher and replace them with common-sense reforms that ensure appropriate student outcomes.

2. What will be your top three priorities for getting the economy moving?

The first priority of a Romney administration will be to strengthen the middle class by creating 12 million new jobs and getting our economy going again. Mitt Romney will rebuild the foundations of the American economy on the principles of free enterprise, hard work and innovation. His plan seeks to reduce taxes, spending, unnecessary regulation and ineffective government programs. It seeks to increase trade, energy production, human capital and labor flexibility. It empowers states instead of claiming that the federal government has the solution to every problem.

Any American living through this economic crisis will immediately recognize the severity of the break that Mitt Romney proposes from our current course. He is calling for a fundamental change in Washington’s view of how economic growth and prosperity are achieved, how jobs are created and how government can support these endeavors. It is at once a deeply conservative return to policies that have served our nation well and a highly ambitious departure from the policies of our current leadership. In short, it is a plan to get America back to work.

3. Health care is an important issue for college students, especially given the Affordable Health Care plan that extends coverage for these students — even those who are married and attending a university. What other issues of the health care program will impact college students now and in the future?

President Obama enacted a $2 trillion federal takeover of our nation’s health care system, driving up costs, lowering quality and reducing access. The law imposes massive tax increases on middle class families, slashes reimbursements for doctors and hospitals and limits choices for patients. Expansive federal mandates and costly government regulations will force millions of Americans out of their health coverage while enrolling millions more in a crumbling Medicaid program.

Ultimately, the law fails because it is built on the idea that Washington politicians can more compassionately and efficiently manage health care decisions than can patients, families and doctors. Gov. Romney rejects this bureaucratic, Washington-knows-best approach, and he is committed to repealing the president’s health care law beginning on his first day in office.

But that is not enough. The challenges facing our nation’s health care system will exist even after Obamacare has been repealed. That is why Gov. Romney has put forward a plan to replace the president’s fundamentally flawed law. His plan focuses on greater patient choice and control, lower costs and better access for every American.

His plan empowers patients and families and reforms insurance markets to emphasize fair competition and strong consumers. Our health care challenges can be fixed without a federal takeover of the entire system. Gov. Romney’s plan preserves what is working while reforming the areas that are broken.

4. What focus would your administration give to social issues where public policies go against strict religious beliefs, such as abortions, marriage amendments and religious liberty?

Limited government is fundamental to individual freedom. Time and time again, however, President Obama has shown a blatant disregard for the rights of religious institutions to act in accordance with their convictions and issued regulations that violate these institutions’ religious freedom. For example, the Obama administration actually said that it had the power to tell a church whom it had to accept as a minister and that it could second-guess a church’s reasons for deciding someone was not qualified to be a minister. This was so outrageous that the Supreme Court voted unanimously against the president’s position, 9-0. And President Obama has issued Obamacare rules that force religious institutions to pay for contraception and the morning-after pill, which violate the tenets of their faith.

President Obama has also forced millions of Americans who have deeply-held religious objections to abortion to subsidize abortion providers and advocates — both in America and overseas.

As president, Mitt Romney will work to repeal Obamacare and, in the interim, revoke Obamacare’s mandates on religious institutions. He will also, by executive order, reinstate the Mexico City Policy and end federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Mitt Romney will bring America back to the constitutional ideal of a limited federal government that does not intrude on individuals religious freedoms.

5. Many students have enlisted in a branch of the military in order to pay for college. With the recent defense cuts and force reduction, how are you planning on protecting student veterans, National Guard members and ROTC cadets?

President Obama’s massive defense cuts have hit the Armed Forces hard. The cuts affect everyone who is in uniform or has worn the uniform, including students, National Guard and Reserves and veterans. Mitt Romney will reverse the president’s defense cuts and add 100,000 troops to the military. That will help ease the strain on those groups in some important ways. First, it reduces stress on the National Guard and Reserves, which have frequently been called to service during the past 10 years. It allows guardsmen and reservists more time at home with their families and to continue their careers and education. It allows those cadets in the ROTC with better opportunities to commission in the military and earn ROTC scholarships. Most importantly, stopping the president’s defense cuts will prevent massive troop layoffs, which would harm all three of those groups and especially strain a Department of Veterans Affairs that is already buckling under an influx of new VA (Veteran Affairs) “customers.”

6. Why should a college student vote for you?

President Obama wishes we would forget about the last four years and the toll they have taken on everyday Americans. It is no wonder — his four years in office have been a disappointment for all of us, and they have been a catastrophe for some of us. Mitt Romney believes in America. He believes that liberty, opportunity and free enterprise have led to prosperity and strength before and will do so again. America, however, must take decisive action to roll back the misguided policies of the last four years, empower our citizens and restore the foundations of our nation’s strength.

The foundations of our nation’s strength are a love of liberty and a pioneering spirit of innovation and creativity. These values — inherited from our founders and embodied by all who came to our shores seeking opportunity — have made the United States the most powerful nation in the history of the world. These are the values Mitt Romney believes will restore our nation to prosperity.

Obama seeks re-election

Editor’s Note: All five presidential candidates on Virginia’s ballot, including President Obama, were sent the same questions and given an opportunity to answer. Had they responded, their answers would have been featured. Because he is the current president, we have included a brief biography of Barack Obama. The biographies of the third party candidates can be found online at libertychampion.com.

President Barack Obama, the incumbent Democratic candidate for president, was born in Hawaii Aug. 4, 1961.

Obama

According to his biography, “Dreams from My Father,” Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in Wichita, Kansas but moved to Hawaii after her father served in World War II. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born in Kenya. He grew up herding goats in Africa but eventually earned a scholarship that allowed him to pursue his dream of attending college in Hawaii.

President Obama did not have a relationship with his father as a child. According to “Dreams from My Father,” his parents were divorced when he was 2, and his father returned to Kenya. His mother remarried to Lolo Soetoro, an East-West Center student from Indonesia, and the family moved to his home country. When he was 10, Obama was sent back to Hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents because his mother feared for his safety.

According to his website, Obama worked his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans. He studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles for two years before transferring to Columbia University, where he graduated in 1983 with a degree in political science. After college, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as an organizer to help rebuild communities that had been devastated by the closure of local steel plants.

He went on to Harvard Law School in 1988, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. While there, he met Michelle Robinson, an associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. He graduated from Harvard, magna cum laude, in 1991.

After graduating, Obama took a job as a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. According to his website, he also remained active in his community, leading a drive that registered more than 150,000 voters in Illinois leading up to the 1992 election.

Obama was first elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1996. According to his website, he was able to pass the first major ethics reform in 25 years, cut taxes for working families, and expand health care for both children and adults during his time as a state senator in Springfield.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. According to his website, he reached across the aisle to pass the farthest-reaching lobbyist reform in a generation, locked up the world’s most dangerous weapons, and brought transparency to government by tracking federal spending online.

In February 2007, Obama made headlines when he announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He defeated U.S. senator Hilary Clinton for the Democratic nomination and defeated Republican presidential nominee John McCain Nov. 4, 2008 to become the 44th president of the United States. He became the first African-American to hold the office of the president.

According to his website, in his first 100 days of office, Obama expanded health care insurance for children, provided legal protection for women seeking equal pay, passed a $787 billion stimulus bill meant to promote short-term economic growth, and completed an overhaul of America’s foreign policy. He has also signed his health-care reform plan, known as the Affordable Care Act, into law in 2010. As he did in 2008, Obama has focused much of his effort in this campaign on grassroots initiatives.
Obama and his wife have two daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11.

]]>Incumbent President Barack Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney have accepted the nomination for the 2012 presidential election at the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention, respectively.

The following are excerpts from each presidential nominee’s acceptance speech.

YouTube screen shot

I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. I
never have. You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear.

You elected me to tell you the truth…

And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades…

I’ve met workers in Detroit and Toledo who feared they’d never build another American car. And today, they can’t build them fast enough, because we reinvented a dying auto industry that’s back on top of the world…

And now you have a choice. We can gut education, or we can decide that in the United States of America, no child should have her dreams deferred because of a crowded classroom or a crumbling school. No family should have to set aside a college acceptance letter because they don’t have the money. No company should have to look for workers overseas because they couldn’t find any with the right skills here at home. That’s not our future. That is not our future…

I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually
attacked us on 9/11. And we have. We’ve blunted the Taliban’s momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014, our longest war will be over…

A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al-Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama Bin Laden is dead…

America, I never said this journey would be easy, and I
won’t promise that now. Yes, our path is harder, but it leads to a better place. Yes, our road is longer, but we travel it together. We don’t turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.

I am running for president to help create a better future, a future where everyone who wants a job can find a job, where no senior fears for the security of their retirement, an America where every parent knows that their child will get an education that leads to a good job and a bright horizon, and unlike the president, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs…

Paul Ryan and I have five steps.

First, by 2020, North America will be energy independent by taking inventory of our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear and renewables.

Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they
need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow. When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.

Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements, and when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences.

And fourth, to assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish, as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget.

And fifth, we will champion small businesses, America’s engine of job growth. That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them. It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small businesses the most, and it means we must rein in skyrocketing cost of health care by repealing and replacing Obamacare…

If I am elected president of these United States, I will
work with all my energy and soul to restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it. Our nation depends on it. The peace and freedom of the world require it. And with your help we will deliver it. Let us the begin that future for America tonight.

To watch the entire speech, visit gopconvention2012.com and click on “watch live.”

]]>Students can voice their opinions on important issues affecting Lynchburg

City Council elections are next week — Tuesday, May 1. Many students who are already pressed with decisions of which finals to study for and how they are getting home for summer plans may find themselves asking why they should vote in a local Lynchburg election.

“Voting locally will employ a dynamic role in changing the makeup of your city,” Liberty senior and Political Director for Senator Steve Newman Zach Martin said.

The city council members, according to the City of Lynchburg’s website, are elected to four-year terms of office and make decisions that adhere to the City Charter, make any additions or amendments to the Lynchburg City Code and create Council-appointed Boards and Commissions.

“When you’re voting in local elections, you’re voting for things such as meals taxes, water usage, power rates — things of that nature,” Martin said.

The current city council has recently voted down the proposed City Budget meals tax increase. This current council will vote on every aspect of the proposed budget for following years.

In the past, city council has also made the decision to add a Wards III polling place from Heritage High School to Liberty University. The council has also imposed Conditional Use Permits (CUP) on Liberty to require the college to build an estimated $8 million worth of roads, ramps and tunnels in previous years. This increase of building requirements caused tuition to raise $667 for the 2011 academic year, according to a previous Liberty Champion article.

According to the 2009 City of Lynchburg Financial Services’ comprehensive financial report, the second largest employer in Lynchburg is Jerry Falwell Ministries (JFM), Inc., which includes Thomas Road Baptist Church, Liberty University and Liberty Christian Academy. Employing 3,422 people, JFM is behind only Centra Health with the number of jobs that it brings to the community.

A 2009 report released by Mangum Economic Consulting, LLC, an organization specializing in economic and quantitative research, found that Liberty accounts for one out of every 10 local Lynchburg jobs. Liberty students also contributed to $217 million in local direct spending, the report said. The Magnum report also revealed that every dollar Liberty spends generates $1.48 in local economic activity.

In the past, Liberty students have helped swing the election for the House of Delegates between Shannon Valentine and Delegate Scott Garrett, Martin said.

“Liberty students can play a dynamic role in the election because of the voting block they make up,” Martin said.

Those students that are already registered to vote for city council members will be able to have their voices heard through the ballot box May 1.

“(Liberty students can) leave a mark and a legacy in Lynchburg by voting conservatives into office,” Martin said.

On-campus students will be voting in the Ward III district. Off campus students should vote in the precinct where they are registered.